"I research and write for my personal enjoyment and educational enrichment. I am honored and humbled by the people I meet who so generously give of their time and share their stories for my projects."
— Nicholas A. Veronico
Nicholas A. Veronico is an independent scholar, historian, and author. Collaborating with a number of today's most respected subject matter experts he has written or co-authored more than 45 books on a wide range of transportation, military, and local history subjects.
Veronico got his start as a freelance writer, then joined "Pacific Flyer" Aviation Newspapers. He went on to serve as editor of "In Flight USA," contributed extensively to "FlyPast" magazine, and subsequently joined "Airliners: The World's Airline Magazine." On a freelance basis, he has contributed to "Air Classics," "Aviation History," "EAA Warbirds," "Warbirds Worldwide," "Warbirds News," "Vintage Aviation News," "Airways," "Airliner World," "Warbird Digest," "Warbirds International," "Classic Wings," and many others.
His career path led to the high-tech industry where he worked for an embedded systems-on-a-chip magazine, "Silicon Strategies." Subsequently, he served as editor of "Gridpoints, the quarterly publication of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division," which covered NASA's scientific achievements in computational physics using high performance computers. He later served as the public affairs officer for the prime contractor operating NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and as editor of the project's "SOFIA Science" news magazine. During his tenure at SOFIA, he crewed 87 science observing missions on board the flying telescope. Veronico now works as a science and technology writer in the San Francisco Bay area.
As a life-long air racing enthusiast, he partnered with historian Kevin Grantham to chronicle the Cleveland and Reno Air Races in the Raceplane Tech Series -- Vol. I "Griffon-Powered Racing Mustangs" and Vol. II. "Round-Engine Racers: Bearcats and Corsairs" (2000 and 2002, Specialty Press). "F4U Corsair: The Combat, Development, and Racing History of the Corsair" (1994, Motorbooks International) dealt with the subject as well.
Veronico has written extensively on U.S. naval operations in World War II on the sea and in the air. He is the author of "Pearl Harbor Air Raid" (Stackpole Military Photo History, 2016), "Hidden Warships" (Zenith Press, 2015), "Hidden Warbirds: The Epic Stories of Finding, Recovering, and Rebuilding WWII's Lost Aircraft" (Zenith Press, 2013), "Hidden Warbirds II" (Zenith Press, 2013), "Battlestations: American Warships in WWII" (Motorbooks, 2001), a profile of the former Naval Air Station and NACA/NASA facility at "Moffett Field" (Arcadia Publishing, 2006), and "World War II Shipyards of the Bay Area" (Arcadia Publishing, 2007), as well as "F4U Corsair" (Motorbooks, 1994), "Convair PB4Y-2/P4Y-2 Privateer" (Ginter Books, 2012), and with Jim Dunn "High Desert Deployment: Navy Colors on Display at NAS Fallon (Key Books, 2023).
The story of the loss of his grand uncle and 390th Bomb Group B-17G “Decatur Deb” formed the nucleus of the book that became “Bloody Skies: U.S. Eighth Air Force Battle Damage in World War II” (Stackpole Military Photo Series, 2014). His interest in World War II aviation, and the subsequent disposal of America’s aerial armada to the present day, led to “Military Aircraft Boneyards” (with A. Kevin Grantham and Scott Thompson, 2000, Motorbooks Intl), “AMARG: America's Military Aircraft Boneyard” (with Ron Strong, 2010, Specialty Press), and “Boneyard Nose Art: U.S. Military Aircraft Markings and Artwork” (with Jim Dunn and Ron Strong, Stackpole Military Photo Series, 2013), and "AMARG: America's Strategic Military Aircraft Reserve" (with Jim Dunn, Key Books, 2023).
As a teenager, his parents took him to various locations in Mexico to see the artwork of Diego Rivera, and each morning when he entered the hallways of Will Rogers Junior High School in Long Beach, California, he was greeted by Olinka Hrdy’s WPA Federal Art Project mural "Deep Sea Magic." This early exposure to art from the 1930s formed the basis for his interest later in life of Depression-era art. To that end, Veronico has co-authored "Depression-era Murals of the Bay Area" (Arcadia Publishing, 2014) and "Depression-era Sculpture of the Bay Area" (Arcadia Publishing, 2017). He has co-authored other local history books, including "Images of America: San Carlos" (Arcadia Publishing, 2007), "Images of America: Redwood City" (Arcadia Publishing, 2008), "Redwood City: Then and Now" (Arcadia Publishing, 2010), and "Images of America: Menlo Park" (Arcadia Publishing, 2015).
In 1995 he started wreckchasing – an online community for enthusiasts interested in locating, documenting, and preserving historic aircraft wrecks. He hosted the first symposium for those interested in aviation archaeology and wreckchasing in 2009.
He served as the lead scriptwriter for "Scrapping Aircraft Giants," a TV documentary by Daurg Productions for The Discovery Channel. In addition, he appeared on the TV series "Life After People" in the 2010 episode "Take Me To Your Leader," providing history and commentary on the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard near San Francisco, California. He was also in front of the camera for the TV series documentary "UFOs Declassified" where he discussed military aspects of the February 1942 "Battle for Los Angeles."
Recently, the Military Writer's Society of America recognized Veronico's history of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration team and his book on military aircraft storage (AMARG) with distinguished book awards, and his update of Robert F. Dorr's "Air Force One," now titled "Air Force One: The Aircraft of the Modern Presidency," received a Silver Medal.
